NCRI – The Archbishop of Wales and 24 leading British churchmen have issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the latest terrorist attack on Camp Liberty in a letter to the UK’s foreign secretary William Hague.
The religious leaders also blamed the United nations Iraqi envoy for their plight of Liberty residents and demanded that they be urgently returned to the safety of Camp Ashraf.
Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan wrote: “We the undersigned condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal missile attack on Camp Liberty – Baghdad on Saturday 15 June, which has left at least two Iranian dissidents dead and more than 50 injured. We note that the Foreign Office has also condemned it.
“The unarmed and defenceless residents of this camp are ‘Protected Persons’ under the 4th Geneva Convention. We have no doubt that the attack was on the orders of the regime in Tehran, which views the 3,100 dissidents, including 1,000 women, who are all members of the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), as its enemies.
“This is the second deadly attack on the Camp in a matter of months. The first attack took place on 9 February 2013 and left eight residents dead and 100 wounded.
“Since then, the residents of the camp and their representatives have taken extensive steps, including writing hundreds of letters and holding many meetings with the UN, US and Iraqi officials, to seek the provision of minimum security measures to protect their lives.
“This includes the returning of T-walls to the camp, as well as transferring from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty the residents’ helmets, protective vests and medical facilities.
“Rather shamefully, despite making various promises, UNAMI has failed to deliver on the most basic requirements to protect the lives of these people. The removal by the Iraqi government of the 17,500 T-walls that were previously there for protection purposes is nothing less than a deliberate and cruel act to deny the residents of their minimum safety requirements.”
The churchmen also attacked Martin Kobler for breaking his promises to protect the Iranian dissidents after he transferred them from Ashraf to liberty.
The letter added: “In 2012, UNAMI Chief Martin Kobler transferred these refugees from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty with the promise that the new camp would be a place that was safe and secure from any military attack. He also promised that the residents would go through UN interviews and be rapidly relocated to safe third countries. None of these promises have materialised.
“We call on you as the British Foreign Secretary to demand that the United Nations immediately return the residents back to their original home in Camp Ashraf, which is 80 times larger than Camp Liberty and has various security facilities and would therefore be a much better place to protect the residents.
“Ask for the dossier of residents to be passed over to the UNHCR from UNAMI.”
The letter was signed by:
1. The RT Revd Mike Hill, The Lord Bishop of Bristol
2. The Rt Revd Anthony Priddis, The Lord Bishop of Hereford
3. The Rt Revd Tim Steven, The Lord Bishop of Leicester
4. The RT Revd Martin Wharton, The Lord Bishop of Newcastle
5. The RT Revd John Pritchard, The Lord Bishop of Oxford
6. RT Revd John Packer, The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds
7. The RT Revd Dr John Inge, The Lord Bishop of Worcester
8. The Rt Revd Stephen Platten, The Lord Bishop of Wakefield
9. The RT Revd Robert Paterson, The Lord Bishop of Sodor & Man
10. The RT Revd Dr Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe
11. The RT Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Bradford
12. The RT Revd John Goddard, Bishop of Burnley
13. The RT Revd James William Scobie Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle
14. The RT Revd Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford
15. The RT Revd Peter Wheatley, Bishop of Edmonton
16. The RT Revd Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ely
17. The RT Revd Dr Timothy Ellis, Bishop of Grantham
18. The RT Revd Richard Frith, Bishop of Hull
19. The RT Revd Geoff Pearson, Bishop of Lancaster
20. The RT Revd Dominic Walker, Bishop of Monmouth
21. The RT Revd Jonathan Meyrick, Bishop of Lynn
22. The RT Revd Alan Gregory Clayton Smith, Bishop of St Albans
23. The RT Revd Adrian Newman, Bishop of Stepney
24. The RT Revd John Davies, Bishop of Swansea and Brecon
25. The RT Revd Dr Lee S Rayfield, Bishop of Swindon